Facilities like those offered by Gameship and GameAcademy (above) have seen serious gaming proser in the Netherlands
with Sparpweed on a PlayStation Network game game called ibb & obb. “Sparpweed is responsible for the
concept and design of the game, and Codeglue is responsible for the technical implementation and the animations,” explains de Jong. “I think more studios in the Netherlands are working alike.”
(From top to bottom) Paladin’s Derk de Geus, Green Hill MD Maarten de Koning, Infinity Lane CEO Tim Vogel, Codeglue’s Peter de Jong, Digital Dreams CEO Thijmen Bink, and game director of business development at GamePoint Rik Haandrikman
MOBILISING SMALL STUDIOS It is, however, unrealistic to paint a wholly positive picture of today’s Dutch games industry. As in any country with a blossoming development sector, the Netherlands faces challenges, especially for smaller studios looking to establish themselves locally before taking their product worldwide. “Our home market is tiny, which makes it difficult to bootstrap your way to success,” admits Rik Haandrikman, director of business development at GamePoint, a Netherlands-headquartered online portal. “The rise of mobile and social gaming has made life quite a lot easier though; you don’t need to be in the US to develop a game that can keep millions of Americans entertained.” And, says Tim Vogel, CEO at mobile and serious gaming studio Infinity Lane, the country can offer less jobs than there are eager and trained post-graduates. “The size of the industry and country is a big challenge here,” he states. “There are a lot of games development students graduating each year with only a handful of jobs available. This makes it difficult for students to find internships or jobs within the Netherlands.”
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HOLLAND OF OPPORTUNITY Still, the opportunity available to those in the Netherlands easily matches the challenges, and as a result a balanced perspective prevails. “The current market is changing fast and
key players are focusing on a wide variety of platforms like mobile and cloud gaming,”
Dutch developers are strong on
mobile and can adapt to changes quickly. Therefore I think our future is bright.
Maarten de Koning, Green Hill
says Green Hill’s de Koning. “This uncertainty, the fact that even publishers don’t know in what to invest, is something that has an impact on our future as well. Luckily, Dutch developers are strong on mobile and can adapt quickly. Therefore I think our future is bright.” The last word, however, goes to Invest
Utrecht’s van Wingerden. “I think our games industry has a bright
future ahead,” he concludes. “In a quickly changing landscape chances keep on presenting themselves. Games have proven themselves both in the field of entertainment as in the applied games. Now is the time to professionalise and grow companies in a sustainable way.”
One of the lesser know attributes of the Netherlands development sector is its knack for serious gaming. “The games industry in the Netherlands is
very much focused on serious gaming, especially in the North,” suggests Albert Sikkema, director of serious gaming outfit GameAcademy. “As serious gaming is booming at the moment, a boost to the gaming industry can be expected. There are quite a few facilities in the Netherlands. In Leeuwarden we have Gameship (pictured above), which is a big game development studio, specialised in motion capture.” And, insists Sikkema, the Dutch games dev
ecosystem has plenty in place to support a serious games sector that he believes has a bright future.
“Education in the Netherlands for gaming is at a high level,” he says of the potential serious gaming can tap into. “Students particularly learn to apply their knowledge. They are very much self-reliant and are used to working in teams.”